Menu
The Machine
The Idea
The Brain
The Case
The Keyboard
Main Screen
Mini Screens
TFT Screen
RFID Reader
Using the RFID Reader
Designing RFID Cards
LED Lighting
Power Displays
GPS Module
Battery Power
Power Switch
3D Printed Parts
Future Plans
Problems
Back in the days of Thatcher, came a laptop from AMSTRAD, the PPC640. One that came with a blindingly fast modem that could send your documents and faxes at 1200 baud! Not only that, it also had a full sized keyboard, dual floppy drives and some strange software to use on it's impossible to view 640x200 display.
Not only that, it was IBM compatible & came with DOS 3.3. Currently, it is unknown if it will play Microsoft Flight Sim to confirm the compatibility but it will run the first Zork game.
This is a journey to rebuild this classic machine & bring it into the 21st century with, possibly, a Loki flair!
It doesn't look like it will be done to such an extent but it will have some, unique, features but you will have to wait for that as that hasn't been taken into account!
Building the machine
The first machine located wasn't a fully working machine (and it was cheap from eBay) so it was worth taking it apart to figure out how it was put together and how much space would be left after removing the processor board, RAM board & modem. This was also a donor machine as some parts are hard to find such as the connectors for the keyboard's flat-flex cables.
A second, and then a third, machine was purchased so a good, cosmetically, machine was available to complete the build as well as having chips that can be sold on eBay to recoup some of the cost of the build.
The Build Parts
- Part 1 : The Machine
- Part 2 : The Idea
- Part 3 : The Brain
- Part 4 : The Case
- Part 5 : The Keyboard
- Part 6 : Main Screen
- Part 7 : Mini Screens
- Part 8 : TFT Screen
- Part 9 : RFID Reader
- Part 10 : Using the RFID Reader
- Part 11 : Designing RFID Cards
- Part 12 : LED Lighting
- Part 13 : Power Displays
- Part 14 : GPS Module
- Part 15 : Battery Power
- Part 16 : Power Switch
- Part 17 : 3D Printed Parts
- Part 18 : Future Plans
- Part 19 : Problems
